Smoking articles are generally formed of a tobacco rod and a filter wrapped in a material, such as paper. A band of paper may be used to join together a wrapped tobacco rod and a wrapped filter. Cigarettes with different construction and configuration are possible but do generally comprise rod shaped components, such as tobacco rods and filters that are wrapped in materials in various arrangements.
Machinery for preparing and wrapping a moving web of material around a tobacco rod, a filter or an assembly of a tobacco rod and a filter may include a web handling system that handles thin strips of material, arranges and aligns the strips of material with the relevant components and feeds the strips into a wrapping process to wrap the strips of material around the components of the smoking article.
Some smoking articles require a plurality of paper portions to be wrapped around a smoking article in a spaced arrangement, with gaps between each portion.